looking after the bat

Table tennis rackets are not tools of extreme precision.

To answer your questions directly -

1) I keep it in a racket case for the most part - sometimes, I may cover the topsheet with a plastic, but this is not necessary and I usually do it if the sheet is tacky,
2) I use water, but some people use other stuff. I just dab some water on my fingers, clean my rubbers and then move on. I don't believe anything used is much better than clean water and the hand.
3) It depends on how stick the edge tape is and how fragile the rubber is but I remove and change edge tape all the time. On the other hand, I am well past the point where I wouldn't build my racket myself. But it should still be fine for anyone to do so unless the rubber is extremely fragile and the tape extremely sticky.

The best thing to use for cleaning your topsheet is a very small amount of water and your hand or a sponge. The cleaners from the companies have chemicals in them that make the rubber degrade and wear out a microscopic amount faster. You may not ever even notice the amount. But why pay for something they causes your rubber to degrade faster.

You don't need the plastic sheets. But I like them. So I use them.

But the important thing to know is that your racket is a piece of equipment. It is designed to handle a certain amount of use and abuse. It is not meant to be hung on a wall and admired. It is a weapon for battle. It will get dings, it will get scrapes, and slams. If it doesn't, I will feel sorry for your racket that it was fated to find its way into the hands of a player afraid of the hazards and spoils of war.

When you sing the edge of your blade on the table because you were trying a challenging loop off a handbreaker serve or push, your blade accrues experience points and its mojo points go up as well. When the edge of your rubber gets scraped because you did a heavy push and caught the table the character and hit points on your rubber go up and ultimately you end up with a racket that trusts you more and is willing to work harder for you because it sees its warrior is willing to take risks to win.

You should know when your rubber is dead and it is time to change it, or, you should.

There are two reasons to change rackets: 1) you just want to try something else! 2) you destroyed it!

Short of that, a racket can be used for several decades. I have a friend who is a pro whose main blade is an Avalox/Nittaku P-700 from 1991. His backup is its twin (same blade, same year). And man that thing might as well be Excalibur! The thing is timeless perfection. There is nothing that feels that good.

Now go out and get some good dings on your new racket and tell us if your weapon has given you its full allegiance yet.

Remember, you have to win the allegiance of your weapon. The racket chooses the player.


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NextLevel, hopefully that last bit explains to you why you can't go into battle with anything except that Double Day Avenger Loop King!!! It told me when I hit with it that it had already chosen you!


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Rubbers you clean when you see dust. In the middle of a match you use your breath and steam them and wipe with the hands. In any pro match you can see all the pros do this. That works. Before you put your racket in its racket case you clean the rubbers the way NextLevel said. Water on finger, wipe with hand, or with a sponge that has almost no water because it has been wrung out.

Then you wait for the topsheets to dry and put it in your racket case, with or without plastic topsheet protectors. (Again, I use them because I like them. But they are not needed. They really don't do much to protect your topsheet unless you have tacky rubbers).

But you never clean your blade. Unless of course, your name is Felix Unger and you are expecting a visit from Martha Stewart.


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UpSideDownCarl said:

NextLevel, hopefully that last bit explains to you why you can't go into battle with anything except that Double Day Avenger Loop King!!! It told me when I hit with it that it had already chosen you!


Sent from Godric'sHollow using the ResurrectionStone

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"To me, my blade! I shall smote thee with my loops of thunder!"

bolterixus said:

I see. I will hopefully order a pair of cheap rubber and put them on my primorac as I actually never applied or changed rubbers my self and I think it is a useful skill. I heard that it is quite simple.

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Now your talkin'. Something like the Dawei XP2008 for $8.00 is a perfect rubber to do that with. And it is pretty good rubber. Much better than the $8.00 price tag.

There are plenty of on line videos of how to glue and cut the rubbers. Some people like using a really sharp razor type knife. Some like using scissors. Scissors take a little skill to learn how to start the rubber off because the handle is in the way until you get to the side. But after doing it a few times you figure it out. The razor knife is easier in some ways but, I find it more labor intensive so I just cut with scissors.

It is definitely worth learning how to tech your own blades.


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bolterixus said:

I see. I will hopefully order a pair of cheap rubber and put them on my primorac as I actually never applied or changed rubbers my self and I think it is a useful skill. I heard that it is quite simple.

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Once you do a couple, you will wonder why you wasted so much time thinking of a bat as a finished product.

bolterixus said:

Another question came to my mind. Is it OK to change rubbers on the blade. Say I will take the rubbers I have on the primorac and put say the hurricane. And the take them of and put tenergy would it change how the blade plays and feels?

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People do this all the time. The differences in feel will be a result of the rubber and the glue job, not the blade. Not sure what club you play at but these are things most fairly experienced players are very familiar with.

It is a good question. I am not sure there is an answer. Cholei, which is something that Ma Long often says when he wins a good point means something like, Yes, or Thats Good. Not sure of the exact translation, but it has something like the meaning of when an English speaking person would say, yes. Cho on the other hand, I am not so sure it means anything. But then, the real question would be, why do people who are not Asian say it? and that is a big mystery to me. I only say it when I am joking around. There are other things that I say when I feel good about winning a hard point. But, perhaps Cho is most like a verbalized guttural grunt of celebration. So, maybe it is okay. Sometimes when I celebrate the first thing that comes out is something like that that would best be spelled uregh! or huregh! Sometimes hoh comes out also. And hoh, when I say that one, sounds a lot like cho without the c.

But your guess is as good as anybodies why people use the particular sound "CHO!" But I would have to say that for Westerners it must be a learned behavior or we would hear it in other sports as well.

bolterixus said:

Hmm so it is a thing to think about then.

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Or not to think about and to avoid at all costs. That is actually my opinion. To me it sounds foolish.